Fez Hat

I've been thinking about putting up a new page on the website for this style of hats since they don't really seem to fit in well on any of the existing pages.  I call them fez hats because the idea for them comes from the traditional fez that's usually made from cotton cloth and has a tassel of some sort.  I've only made a few of them so far, but two fez hat owners decided at more or less the same time that they needed a second one. This first one is made from black alpaca and dark brown undyed merino wool.  The second hat is finished, but I haven't taken a photo of it yet. Hopefully I'll be able to do so by this weekend.  It's dark charcoal gray merino wool and lighter gray Jacob wool.

The top part is made with two ply yarn, which gives it some extra body that helps hold the shape. The rest is spun one ply medium weight.  I usually use a glass bead on the end of the tassel, though a wooden one might look nice, too.  This bead is a transparent warm brown which goes well with the brown in the two ply top section of the hat.

New Custom Made Hats

 I haven't been keeping up with this blog for a variety of reasons, one of which is that I've put up a Facebook page for my hats.  Unfortunately everything to do with Facebook seems to be time consuming, and posting is a real chore.  So now I'm back here where it's a bit more user friendly, and I can post some hats without feeling like my head is about to explode!  

There's been a lot going on here on the old homestead where the off the grid lifestyle is wonderful but also lots of work. My daughter and son in law have moved into what used to be a spare rental cabin, and they are doing a fabulous job of fixing things up.  We are currently involved with upgradng our solar as well as the water system, which includes digging a new pond and cleaning out the old one.  So not a lot of time for making hats, though both my daughter Allie and I are still taking custom orders and replacing sold hats on the website.

My most recent custom hats have been two malamute ski caps, which will be coming in handy this winter. I'm really happy when people place their orders this time of year when I have more time, rather than waiting until right before the holidays!  So here they are.  This first one is the natural color of the fiber, which looks sort of off white here, but is actually a pale oatmeal color.  Kind of unusual for malamute, which in my experience tends to be white or gray and white. The gray trim and ties are undyed Jacob wool.

The second ski cap is dyed in "rasta" colors as specified by the customer.  The fiber dyed very well, and the colors are very rich and vibrant.